Ayanna Presley went on a racist tirade Wednesday, accusing “white men” of “failing up” during a hearing on Capitol Hill over Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Chair Martin Gruenberg and a scathing report of rampant abuse at the agency.
The report, released by the Wall Street Journal last year, ignited anger from Republicans and some Democrats after it revealed years of sexual harassment and abuse claims at the FDIC, the vast majority of which resulted in zero disciplinary measures. Those that did amounted to slaps on the wrist, at best. The alleged problem dates back to before Gruenberg assumed the role as FDIC chair - a position he's held since 2022 (he served as acting chair until January of 2023, when he was officially confirmed to the position by the U.S. Senate) - though it doesn't appear much has changed under his leadership.
But while the claim that rampant sexual harassment has pervaded a federal, tax-funded agency should be plenty enough to spark outrage, Pressley chose instead to turn the scandal into a race-based diatribe against “white men.”
“For over a decade, the FDIC, under your leadership and your predecessors, ignored them,” Pressley said, referring to the slew of sexual harassment complaints filed by women in the agency.
“Chair Gruenberg in November…you stated that the FDIC already has ‘appropriate policies and procedures in place.’ Do you now agree...that the policies and procedures in place have been a cataclysmic failure and an affront to the many women who have been harassed, pushed out of the FDIC, and forced to change their career goals and life trajectory?” she demanded.
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“I am so tired of white men failing up,” she rambled on, while complaining about the fact that there were no women on the House Financial Services Committee's panel of financial regulators (despite pretty much everyone, minus a few Democrats like Maxine Waters, being quite disgusted by the report and Gruenberg's alleged role in the scandal).
"This lack of accountability is shameful, inadequate, and deeply unsatisfactory, and it is re-traumatizing," Pressley claimed.
"I am so tired of white men failing up” - Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D) on the House Floor
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) May 15, 2024
Rep Ayanna Pressley is racist.pic.twitter.com/cAdUOfFSD1
Here’s a question - why “white men”? Are black and brown men not capable of sexual harassment? Because FBI stats beg to differ. Are black and brown men in powerful positions - looking at you, giant laundry list of pro athletes - without their own history of being able to abuse victims, most of them women, with near impunity?
And for that matter, when it comes to making sure federal agencies aren’t cesspools of sexual abuse, why should race come into play at all?
It shouldn’t. And yet here we are talking about it anyway because a congresswoman who sees a white-hooded Nazi in every shadow decided this was her latest moment to land a soundbite.
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